Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.50 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 9 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. Your surges rise up like the roar of a river's wave — drive on the edge of the song.
2. At your setting forth, three voices rise up, eager for the fray, as you go out over the ridge of the fleece.
3. Upon the sheep's-wool filter they speed the dear tawny one with the pressing stones — the self-purifying one, dripping with sweetness.
4. Flow through the filter with your stream, most exhilarating one, O seer, to take your seat in the womb of the chant.
5. Purify yourself, most exhilarating one, anointed with streams of milk, O drop — for Indra to drink.
Translator's note: "vāṇasya pavim" in verse 1 (literally "the rim/edge of the song-stream") is a compressed, obscure phrase; rendered here conservatively as "the edge of the song." "Tisro vācaḥ" ("three voices") in verse 2 likely refers to the ritual cries of the pressing, left untranslated beyond its literal sense.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.50 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda IX.50
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
ut te śuṣmāsa īrate sindhor ūrmer iva svanaḥ |
vāṇasya codayā pavim || 1 ||
prasave ta ud īrate tisro vāco makhasyuvaḥ |
yad avya eṣi sānavi || 2 ||
avyo vāre pari priyaṁ hariṁ hinvanty adribhiḥ |
pavamānam madhuścutam || 3 ||
ā pavasva madintama pavitraṁ dhārayā kave |
arkasya yonim āsadam || 4 ||
sa pavasva madintama gobhir añjāno aktubhiḥ |
indav indrāya pītaye || 5 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).